Beer At The Movies

When I was just out of undergrad, I worked in Holland for a while and recall going to the movies where a very nice waitress came to the seats and asked to take our drinks orders. I found it quite shockingly different - mixing alcohol and films. Such a quiet Canadian upbringing I had had. Well it looks like things are going all 1986 Amsterdam over here now if one movie chain gets its way:

Movie fans in Toronto may soon be able to enjoy an ice cold beer with their favorite flick -- without having to wait for it to come out on DVD. Cineplex Odeon is seeking a licence from the provincial government that would allow its patrons to drink while watching a movie at one of its downtown Toronto theatres. The pilot project would allow the company to serve wine and beer in their four VIP studios at the Manulife Centre in Yorkville, each of which seat about 40 people each.

So what does VIP mean in this context - very inebriated person? Something Canadian in using VIP as an aspect of this. The common riff-raff couldn't be trusted with this sort of thing, you know.

Anyway, where else can you do this sort of thing now? Norway? England? Is it common or rare? And what else do the VIPs get at the movies. If anyone else has met one, please ask for me.

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Comments

For some time there have been specialist, independent cinemas in Britain that sell alcohol. Recently I noticed our second biggest cinema chain, Vue, has started selling beer too - but only Beck's and American Budweiser. Yuck.

When I lived in Prague, you could buy cans of Gambrinus to drink during the movie at the big multiplex, and if you opted for the specialist "gold service" cinema they'd bring draught Pilsner Urquell to your seat...

For years (well at least since I was 14) I have enjoyed a good beer or two at my local theaters. Once poured into the pepsi cup it is undetectable (hiding the noise of cracking the cap is rarely a problem when it is timed with a big noisy part of the movie). My wife's purse is an excellent receptacle for a couple of bottles and my selection is bound only by what is avaialble to me, and the price is what I pay for it at the local shop. If the theaters around here start selling beer I suspect they will become doubly vigilant for my variety and that will be that so to speak. Be careful what you wish for.

actually, in the town where I grew up (in the south shore of MA), there was a movie theater that played films after the larger theaters were basically done with them. It was actually an old playhouse, with a large large screen on the stage, and the sound was only stereo (not surround). Monday and Tuesday nights a ticket was one dollar. Then some restaurant lost its liquor license, and the theater was able to pick it up (I guess the number of licenses in town was fixed, or the number of businesses in the center of town allowed to have a license was fixed, or something), allowing them to sell beer to drink while watching your movie. Of course, it was only stuff like Miller Lite or Budweiser, but hey, it was beer.

There are a few smaller cinemas her in Oslo where you can have wie or beer with your film. One of them is of the more high brow type, showing French movies and what have you. I think they sell more wine than beer. The other is a rather small all digital theatre, which you can also rent by the hour to play viedo games on the big screen while sipping your cold beer. I had a few beers there wathcing Spiderman 3.

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"The purpose of this wiki is to collectively make comments, add annotation, identify errata and suggest further sources to the text of The Oxford Companion to Beer. Members are asked to avoid comment about the authors, the structure of the text or other extraneous matters. This wiki is a not for profit project that reviews the text pursuant to the concept of "fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review" under Canadian copyright law." Alan McLeod, wiki Organizer, and chief bottle washer at A Good Beer Blog. Motto? "Many hands make pleasant work." Alan McLeod, 25 October 2011. Please provide some information about yourself when making a request to join the wiki. Anonymous requests for membership will not be approved. Overly ardent and rudely put claims to authority will be cause for removal from the membership. As of 11 January 2012, 134 entries or 12.2% of the total of 1,100 received commentary, many with multiple comments. Eight of the photos have been corrected as well. That number rose to 151 by 13 May 2012.